News

CEMESO Boosts Media’s Capacity To Combat Misinformation,Disinformation

By Web News 490

By Olaitan Oye-Adeitan

Prompt publication and reportage of accurate and ethically verifiable stories is crucial in stemming the tide of misinformation and disinformation flooding social media.

The Executive Director, of the Centre for Media and Society, CEMESO, Dr Akin Akingbulu made the assertion at a virtual meeting held for media professionals and relevant stakeholders on “Networking and Dialogues on Misinformation and Disinformation Issues”.

Dr Akingbulu explained that the meeting was part of the European Union’s intervention to build the capacity of the media and broadcast regulators to confront the bug of misinformation and disinformation towards a stronger and more robust democracy in Nigeria.

The CEMESO Director described false narratives as threats to national peace and progress.

He said misinformation and disinformation were also capable of exacerbating and delegitimising electoral processes., “It holds a significant threat to the fabric of the society sowing discord and inciting violence, jeopardizing peace and encouraging diminished public participation in electoral processes”.

According to him, CEMESO has trained over 200 journalists to empower the media and the public with credible information”.

He therefore called for deliberate efforts by the media to strengthen the resilience of democratic society by changing the ugly narrative.

The Programme Manager, CEMESO, Mr Timothy Bamidele listed the six thematic areas the EU intervention programme covered including improving the quality of electoral administration in Nigeria, Combating hate speech and misinformation, as well as providing support to political parties, electoral body, media, women youths and the marginalized groups.

Mr.Bamidele however observed that the media did not always provide fair coverage of elections.” This is to ensure that journalists are well trained to perform optimally”.

Mr Bamidele wants the National Broadcasting Commission, NBC, to ensure that it lived up to its mandate of regulating activities of the media.

In a remark, a representative of the INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner in Ondo State, Dr Tope Akanmu, said the damaging effect of misinformation and information was not only felt in politics and electoral processes but in all aspects of human life.

He called for concerted efforts by the media to increase their production of timely and correct information.

Also, in a message to the meeting, President of the International Press Council, IPC, Mr. Lanre Arogundade was optimistic that the forum would have a positive impact on information dissemination.

Contributions from participants were pointers to the fact that the media must really wake up to its responsibility of presenting unbiased information by digging deeper into issues and being empowered with the right tools to fact-check stories before being published.

It would be recalled that the Centre For Media and Society, CEMESO had been holding a series of trainings for the media and other key players in line with the European Union’s agenda of building sustainable democracy in Nigeria among other pertinent goals.

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Communication

Prebunking: Leveraging Strategies to Preserving Truth in Media

By Web News 804

By Olaolu Fawole

With the advancement of technologies including Artificial Intelligence, AI, digital platforms are now flooded with misinformation in different forms.

To combat the spread of false narratives, the concept of prebunking emerged, which is to serve as a proactive strategy in the fight against fake news on both traditional and social media.

What is “Prebunking”.

Prebunking is a term from “preemptive debunking”, which means focusing on prevention rather than reactive mitigation. It involves effectively fortifying the public against deceptive narratives. Also, prebunking is an approach that shields media content consumers from the influence of false information, by providing accurate information ahead of time.

A key component of prebunking strategies is proactive communication and education campaign. This component preemptively debunk misinformation from identified potential sources of misinformation by disseminating accurate information.

Engaging media content users through various channels such as social media platforms and through traditional media as well as community outreach programmes, would make prebunking process more impactful among the heterogeneous audience and ensure a culture of critical thinking and media literacy.

Nevertheless, prebunking strategies in  preserving the truth in media have many potential benefits, which are significant. These include mitigating the impact of misinformation on public discourse, strengthening the resilience of democratic societies and promoting informed decision-making.

However, there are some challenges surrounding prebunking. Identifying and preemptively debunking misinformation before it goes viral requires time and a robust fact-checking process. Also, addressing echo chambers and confirmation bias, which can been classified as drivers of misinformation  requires a detailed and subtle comprehension of how people think, feel, and behave, as well as the underlying psychological factors that influence their actions.

Moreover, collaboration among journalists, media organisations, fact-checking organisations, government agencies, educational institutions and civil society organisations can amplify the impact of prebunking mechanisms and counter spread of misinformation.

All stakeholders must embrace the various innovative approaches such as prebunking to counter misinformation through proactive communication, education and partnership, so as to build a more dependable information ecosystem.